Blu Cigs was already one of the world’s best-known e-cigarette companies before it was purchased by tobacco giant Lorillard in 2012. However, the purchase catapulted Blu to the top of the headlines and made new and potential e-smokers around the world wonder how the landscape of the e-cigarette industry would change in the coming months. To date, Lorillard has made no significant changes to the Blu e-cigarette, nor have they announced any upcoming changes. Blu’s current product is successful, refined and unique in a few important ways, but it’s also expensive. So, is Blu any good? Find out in this Blu Cigs review.

About Blu Cigs

A lot of people were introduced to Blu Cigs when they began to run rather seedy looking television commercials around 2009-10. A lot of people weren’t quite sure what to make of the image Blu Cigs was trying to portray, and the product wasn’t nearly as good as it is now. Back then, Blu sold a three-part e-cigarette with disposable plastic cartridges and Chinese nicotine liquid. That’s what most e-cigarette owners were using back then, whether they were Blu customers or not. Thankfully, the e-cigarette industry has evolved since then. If you’re getting ready to buy an e-cigarette for the first time today, you’re going to have a much better experience than I did — and we have Blu Cigs, in part, to thank for that.

In the years since 2010, Blu has taken three key steps to transform its product from a mediocre one to something truly compelling.

First, Blu Cigs improved the performance of its product by getting rid of the disposable plastic cartridges and switching to atomized cartridges or “cartomizers.” Cartomizers are standard on virtually all small e-cigarettes now, but Blu was one of the first companies to make the switch. Because a cartomizer seals the nicotine liquid in with the heating element, it produces more vapor and doesn’t leak like a disposable plastic cartridge can. This change made the Blu e-cigarette more reliable and more satisfying to use.

Second, Blu ditched its Chinese e-liquid supplier and signed a deal with Johnson Creek Smoke Juice, one of the oldest and most popular American e-liquid companies. To date, Blu Cigs is the largest e-cigarette company that doesn’t use Chinese e-liquids. Johnson Creek remains Blu’s e-liquid supplier to this day, providing seven different flavors exclusively to Blu.

The last thing Blu needed was a way to make its product truly different from the e-cigarettes offered by the competition. That came in the form of Blu’s social charging pack, which lights up and vibrates when another Blu user is within a 50-foot radius. The idea, of course, is that the pack can be an easy ice-breaker and help you meet people with whom you have something in common. Given Blu’s popularity, the chance of meeting someone via the social charging pack might be higher than you think. If you’re not looking to meet new people, though, you can always turn the feature off.

Blu Cigs Review

Writing a Blu Cigs review was an interesting experience for me as a long-term e-cigarette owner because Johnson Creek Smoke Juice has a completely unique take on the way an e-liquid should taste, which greatly influences the type of experience you have with the Blu e-cigarette. At times, I could almost swear that the Tobacco flavor was a real cigarette because of the smoke flavor that Johnson Creek adds to its tobacco-flavored liquids. If that doesn’t appeal to you, Blu also offers some sweeter flavors such as Cherry, Peach and Pineapple. Because of the way Johnson Creek designs its e-liquids, though, you’re always going to get a bit of that tobacco-like flavor.

I have tried literally hundreds of different e-liquids in the time that I’ve written professionally about e-cigarettes, and there just isn’t anything out there that tastes quite like Johnson Creek’s products. As a result, there’s no e-cigarette in the world that tastes like Blu Cigs. As a result, it’s fair to say that if you try the Blu e-cigarette and enjoy it, you’ll be hard-pressed to find another e-cigarette that satisfies you in quite the same way. At the same time, if you don’t like the taste of the Blu Cigs product, you shouldn’t give up on e-cigarettes entirely because the next product you try will be completely different. Thank goodness for Blu’s satisfaction guarantee, which allows you to try the product and send it back for a full refund if you don’t like it.

A few people out there are sensitive to propylene glycol, the liquid used as a base for most e-cigarette liquids. If you have that sensitivity, you probably already know it because propylene glycol is a common additive in foods, cosmetics and other products. This means that you need to buy e-liquids using only vegetable glycerin as a base — and Blu is the only mainstream e-cigarette I know of that uses no propylene glycol in its e-liquids. This makes Blu an obvious choice for anyone with allergies or sensitivities. In addition, vegetable glycerin produces a much higher volume of vapor than propylene glycol. With the Blu e-cigarette, you’ll be blowing vapor clouds that owners of much larger e-cigarettes will be jealous of.

So, I definitely find Blu Cigs to be a winner in the taste, performance and reliability categories. You’re probably wondering at this point if there are any cons to the Blu e-cigarette. Unfortunately, there is a bit of a downside. At $79.95, the price of the Blu Cigs starter kit is a little high — and if you want the Premium 100 kit, which gives you increased battery life and vapor production, you’ll spend $10 more than that. You can save $10 by going with the original Blu kit, which has the updated Johnson Creek cartridges but lacks the social charging pack.

As I come to the end of my Blu Cigs review, I conclude that Blu’s product is definitely worth the higher price if you’re looking for a small e-cigarette that produces a lot of vapor, are sensitive to propylene glycol or think that you might have some fun with the social charging pack. If you want to spend less and don’t mind getting an e-cigarette that’s a little larger, I’d suggest VaporFi as a good alternative.

2 Comments

I’m afraid that I do not know the answer to your question. I never tried a Blu product when they were still using Chinese e-liquids. Dekang was the best known Chinese e-liquid supplier at the time, though. You might start by checking them out.

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About Vapegrl

Hi, I'm Vapegrl and this is my e-cigarette review website. I started e-smoking four years ago to rid myself of a nasty tobacco habit, and since then I've tried just about every e-cigarette and e-liquid I could find in the never-ending search for the perfect vape. Now I'd like to pass on some of the things I've learned. I hope you enjoy my e-cigarette reviews and guide.